My $.02...
I agree with the OP about wanting a store that sells everything (except purples). Now, before the "Ebil Marketeers" get all perked up, I already know there is a merit vendor who sells everything. I know the market sells everything. I know I am tired of hearing about buyers setting the prices. Of course they set the prices, but some sellers set the prices too. When you log in and you get ready to buy something and you see 5 sales all at the same price and they seem somewhat inflated, *ALERT*, seller generated price. How do I know that? I have been fighting the forces of "Ebil" since IO's came out.
Basically, the OP wants the same thing I do. I want a place I can go pay INFLUENCE for whatever I want. Moreover, I don't want to be involved in the MARKET. I have wasted too much time crafting and selling and flipping and the like to want to do it anymore. I do just enough of it to make my money and buy what I want. I buy it NAO, so yes, I am one of "those" guys. Spare me the lectures on patience.
Here is my current situation...
I am standing in Cap Au and I have 300mil in my pocket. There isn't a usable Gaussians End/Rech for sale at my level (recipe or enh...I am a lvl 39 brute). I ask my coalies if they have one in a character or in their recipe bag, a couple look, no luck. Another coalie thought maybe they had enough merits to buy it, no luck. So now I can put out a bunch of bids and hope for the best, or I can respec out of that last spot and wait till lvl 50 for it. I did that. I really didn't think that doing the merit equivilent of 9 ITF's was worth the 2.5 defense to all positions I was going to get. The funny thing is, this IO is readily available hero side. However, that is a whole other debate.
This issue is very touchy and I feel for the parties on both sides. Many of the "Ebil" folks have helped me learn how to make money for my characters and I have no issues with any of them. I actually thank them for their analysis and details they provide. However, there is another side of the fence and folks should try to offer another solution. I realize that the very second an influence consuming vendor who sells everything lands in Paragon, the Market is toast. My solution is the ability to exchange influence for merits because that would solve my problem directly without affecting anyone. It is essentially what I was going to do with a certain "Ebil" SG mate, but he didn't have quite enough merits. My offer was 90 million for 220 merits. That is just a shade under 410,000 per merit. Seems like a fair trade to me. I get what I want and another player gets something too.
See, it can be done. No harm, no foul. Just let the merit vendor make the conversion at an established rate and BAM...new stuff.
Given sufficient supply what someone else pays for an item has zero impact on what you pay. I regularly get junk for far less that what it's "worth" according to the numbers I see when I place my bid.